When the Magic Kingdom of Walt Disney World opened on January 20, before Trump stepped down and Joe Biden took the oath as the 46th president of the United States, he opened without the Hall of Presidents, which closed indefinitely from today.
The Walt Disney World website reports that the attraction is “closed for renovation”. A sign in front of the entrance says: “The Hall of Presidents is being prepared to receive our new president”.
As of today, the show that has been playing at the Hall of Presidents for the past four years is out of date. The program, which ended yesterday, featured Donald Trump in his role as interim president. Although all presidents since Franklin D. Roosevelt have spoken on the program, the current president has the most prominent role – except Abraham Lincoln, also highlighted in full, who was the late Walt Disney’s favorite.
During the Trump administration, the Hall of Presidents has become increasingly controversial over the years. Left and right petitions on Change.org alternately called for Trump to be removed from the program, his speech to be rewritten to include more positive language and for Trump’s animatronic to be removed so that a more flattering image could be added.
Tradition says that when a new president is elected, the Hall of Presidents closes to install a new animatronic. Bill Clinton was the first acting president to record his own speech, followed by George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
Whether Disney will choose to continue the tradition in the same way, simply adding a Joe Biden animatronic with a recording of his own voice, no one knows. The same goes for the duration of the closing. When Obama was elected, the show ended from November 2008 to July 2009, and reopened with a completely renewed show. When Trump was elected, the show ended from January to December 2017. Many speculated that the delay came from Trump’s refusal to record a speech. This new show debuted with security guards and “decorative tips” between the audience and the stage, perhaps to prevent people from getting too close.
The Hall of Presidents opened in 1971 as one of Walt Disney World’s original attractions, and has changed over the years. Clinton’s version of the show featured Maya Angelou as the narrator, Obama’s Morgan Freeman and Trump’s Joy Vandervort-Cobb, an African-American actress and theater and performance teacher at the College of Charleston.
But the attraction’s popularity has waned over time. “It is time for Disney to turn this attraction into pasture,” wrote the Orlando Sun-Sentinel in an editorial of January 19, 2021. “… It is a window into how political tribalism has evolved over the past 50 years and now disturbs the everyday life. ”
The editors think that the attraction has not only passed its peak, but is also too controversial for a park that describes itself as “the most magical place on Earth”.
“The atmosphere of 2021 is not what Walt Disney imagined when he conjured up the first animatronic figure of his empire in 1964,” wrote the editors. They cited other problems with the attraction, such as including 12 men who owned slaves, and compared that to Disney’s intention to remove the problematic theme from Splash Mountain and replace it with the more inclusive “Princess and the Frog”.
“If you are going to present the history of the United States, you cannot skip the uncomfortable points,” they wrote, and suggested that the show should go completely instead of rewriting any part of that story.
Until last year, there was a pre-show of Muppets outside the Hall of Presidents called “Great moments in history”, where Muppets sang about “great moments in history (but only the American parts).” In it, Sam the Eagle put his head out from behind the 1787 seal on top of the building, Kermit the Frog played Thomas Jefferson and Fozzie Bear played Benjamin Franklin.
Rumors have been circulating among Disney fan groups that the park may choose to integrate the Muppets into the program this year, which would likely reinvigorate interest in a program that has one of the park’s lowest audience numbers. Your most popular resource for reviewers? Have great air conditioning and be a quiet place to take a nap.